Aug 23 decision on Rafizi's appeal against OSA conviction

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today set Aug 23 to decide on an appeal by Pandan Member of Parliament Mohd Rafizi against 18 months' jail sentence for unauthorised possession and disclosure of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Audit Report.
Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah fixed the date after hearing the submission by Mohd Rafizi's lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo, and deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas, who appeared for the prosecution.
Mohamad Abazafree submitted that part of the contents on page 98 had been classified as official secrets and thus, possession of the information was an offence.
"The situation in the charge was that the appellant (Mohd Rafizi) mentioned in his media conference that he had in his possession a confidential document on 1MDB," he said.
Gobind Singh, in his submission, questioned the failure of the prosecution to submit page 98 in full, hence, having failed to prove the element of possession against Mohd Rafizi.
On Nov 14 last year, the Sessions Court here sentenced Mohd Rafizi to a total of 36 months imprisonment on two charges under the Official Secrets Act 1972.
The PKR vice president was sentenced to 18 months in jail on the first charge of unauthorised possession of page 98 of the 1MDB Audit Report at the Parliament building lobby in Jalan Parlimen here at 3pm on March 24 last year, and 18 months in jail on the second charge of exposing the content of the report at a media conference at the same place and time on March 28 the same year.
Judge Zulqarnain Hassan ordered Mohd Rafizi to serve the jail sentences concurrently and granted a stay pending his appeal at the High Court. — Bernama